Starting a new company file - what to do with transactions that took place after the company start date but before the reconciliation beginning date of the account?

Glad to have you here in the Community, @rcbk.

When you generate the report, it gives incorrect beginning and ending balances. This is caused by an incorrect statement date used on a reconciliation or a later reconciliation entered in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) before the current one.

To fix this, make sure to enter the correct opening balance date when setting up the account. Then, it should be matched to the bank statement.

You can check this link for more information: Resolve common issues on the previous reconciliation report.

Here's more information on how to fix the issues you've encountered when reconciling your account: Fix issues when you're reconciling in QuickBooks Desktop.

Please know that you can always get back to us if you have other questions. We're always here to help. Take care.

 Thank you for your reply! 

I did enter the correct opening balance and statement date and the reconciliation worked out. However since statement dates vary for different accounts, for some of them I now have all these unreconciled transactions (they were reconciled in the previous system) from the 1st of the month to the 15th (the statement beginning date). I entered these transactions so we can still correctly track our expenses etc for the month, but this also results in incorrect account balance total. The registrar looks something like this:

Credit Card :

01/03  Expense 1                         50 |         (unreconciled) Balance: 50

01/10 Transfer 1                                |  100 (unreconciled) Balance -50

01/15 Opening Balance Equity    25 |                                 Balance -75

01/20 Expense 2                          10 |          (reconciled)    Balance -85

                                           Correct balance at this point should be: -35

Is there maybe a journal entry I could do to adjust for this ? 

Was this the correct way to start the account and record transactions? 

Hello @rcbk,

You don't have to create a journal entry to adjust your reconciliation. Let me help share how you can correct the opening balance of your accounts so you can proceed with the reconciliation.

To start with, you have two options to correct the opening balance of an account based on your transactions. If your expenses take place before the date of the opening balance, you'll have to enter them including the opening balance, and manually reconcile your transactions.

However, if the expenses in question have dates after your reconciliation, you'll only need to enter the opening balance and proceed with the next reconciliation. Learn more about how you can match your bank accounts and statements with this article: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop.

In addition, I'd also recommend contacting your accountant for guidance in maintaining the accuracy of your accounting books. If you haven't yet, here's a link you can use so you can find a bookkeeper near you: Business is better with a ProAdvisor.

Lastly, I've also included this reference for a compilation of articles you can use while working with us: Banking with QuickBooks Desktop.

If there's anything else that I can help you with, please let me know in the comment below. I'll be here to lend a hand.

 "If your expenses take place before the date of the opening balance, you'll have to enter them including the opening balance, and manually reconcile your transactions."

Yes this is exactly my situation. Could you please elaborate on that part? How does one manually reconcile transactions? I think I currently reconcile all my statements manually but is there a way to do a partial statement like that ? 

Also if you could possibly clarify what you meant by  - enter them including the opening balance ? Where do I include the opening balance?

Thank you, your help is very much appreciated! 

Thank you sharing additional details discussing your goal for today, @rcbk!

Let me add a few thing about how you can manually reconcile a transaction to fix the beginning balance of your reconciliation.

Aside from entering the opening balance when creating your bank account, I'm assuming you've already recorded your expenses accordingly. As you've confirmed they're expenses for purchases made before the opening balance date.

With this, here's how you can manually reconcile a transaction:

1. Go to Banking.
2. Select Reconcile.
3. On the Account menu, select your bank account.
4. Review and confirm all the information is the same with your last statement date.
5. Click Continue.
6. Select all your expenses in question.
7. Put a checkmark to reconcile them manually.
8. Click Reconcile Now.

Additionally, I've got yous helpful article for ideas about the nature of reconciliation and how it works: Learn the reconcile workflow in QuickBooks.

Keep me updated in the comments below if you have any other questions. Stay safe!

4. Review and confirm all the information is the same with your last statement date.

This isn't possible to do since half of the transactions from that statement take place before the company start date and are not recorded in this new company file.

The last statement is Jan15th to Feb14th. The company start date is Feb1st. The transactions are recorded from Feb1st. The account in question will have an opening balance and date from Feb15th. The first full reconciliation I can do on that account is for statement of Feb15th to Mar15th. What do I do with unreconciled transactions that took place before Feb16th?

I think you can exclude the prior transactions when you review your bank download?  I assume you are concerned about the outstanding bank transactions that are not on the new quickbook company.